Range
Sonoran Desert of southeastern California, Arizona and New Mexico to western Texas and northern Mexico.
Habitat
Dry, gravely desert slopes, often under bushes below 4,500 feet.
Flowers
Bright flowers, 1 inch wide and composed of many petals, bloom April and May.
Description
A low, cylindrical cactus with one or many thick-clustered stems grows to 6 inches high. Many hooked spines, 1/2-inch long at the tips of nipples, are surrounded by numerous, straight, tan-to-pink ones. The Fishhook Cactus has extended, smooth, red fruit 1/2 to 1 inches long. Not to be confused with the Fishhook Barrel Cactus (Ferocactus wislizenii) of the Chihuahuan Desert.
Also called:
- Pincushion Cactus
- Corkseed Cactus
- Nipple Cactus
- Fishhook Mammillaria
- Cabeza del Viejo
-- A.R Royo
